Sword Art Online Global Trilogy - USA Server - The Marksman
by daviddanialy
Summary: What if SAO was not only in Japan, but spread throughout the world? Follow Sebastian as he fights his way through America's SAO servers. My first ever fanfiction. Entirely new OC cast, somewhat AU. Rated T for cursing and violence.
1. Chapter 1 - Backstory

Welcome, one and all, to my first fanfiction! Please, feel free to leave reviews, as I will always welcome constructive criticism! Well, here it is: SAO: USA Server!

As I unclenched my fingers, releasing my grip on the bowstring, and feeling the sharp SLAP of sinew on leather as it hit the worn-out padded leather glove on my left hand.

The arrow shaft, being released from its containment, flew straight and true, with all the force of a 30-pound draw weight recurve bow.

The moment after the 2 and a half-foot long ashen-gray shaft left the groove made to steady it, I knew it would fly true to its target.

50 meters away, the 3-foot high bale of hay painted in a circular pattern, shuddered heavily under the impact of the arrow.

I laid down my bow to check the results of the day's training. Many identical bales of hay stood, adorned by clusters of arrows expertly placed in the bull's-eye.

Truly, this was the work of an extremely accomplished archer, or as I called myself, a Marksman. As I walked down the aisle of hay bale pincushions, I noticed that one particular arrow had not hit the bull's-eye.

Cursing silently, I hurriedly pulled out all the arrows and prepared to start again. Why, you might ask? Well, let me tell you a little about myself to begin with.

My name is Sebastian O'Donnovan.

As romantic as it sounds, I was conceived in the back of a pick-up truck in a drive-in movie theater. I was born on July 21, 2004.

As soon as I was born, or "found my way outside of the well", as my dad said for each birthing of my siblings, everyone present immediately noticed something wrong.

My eyes were multi-colored, one being icy blue, while the other was deep sea green. Since the outback areas like my hometown are, well, outback, they believed in all of those crazy superstitions.

As a result, I was used to being avoided by everybody in the entire town, besides my family, of course. This made me isolate myself from the society around me.

I grew up on a ranch in a small town with all 3 of my brothers and sisters. I, being the eldest one, was obviously the most annoyed out of the quadruple.

Even when I was young, I always had a love for archery and all things related. For example, when I was 6, I made my first bow with rubber bands and branches from nearby trees. Using that bow for the first time also taught me a lesson: never practice archery without an archer's glove, and left a few red welts as souvenirs.

In my free time, or the single hour at night before I go to sleep, I liked to read books. My favorite book was about a certain young archer and how he trained to become a legend. A line from his mentor, Halt(hint hint), provided me with a basis for my own routine. This line was, I quote, "Don't practice until you get it right. Practice until you don't get it wrong."

My parents always thought of us as a handful. Though I stayed out of trouble most of the time, my siblings more than made up for it.

By the time I turned 16, I had already flattened out my archery routine. Every morning, I would do 20 one-armed push-ups for each hand, 30 phantom bowstring pulls*, and jog 3 miles around the perimeter of the ranch. Of course, doing chores such as milking the cows and chipping mud off horses' hooves helped to maintain my physical condition as well.

By the time I neared my 17 birthday, I realized that I hate living on a ranch. So, on my birthday, I told them that I planned to go to college in the city after I graduated from high school. They were surprised, although after careful thinking, they decided that it would be better for both parties if he left for college, as they would have to deal with one less child.

So, when that fateful day arrived, goodbyes were exchanged. A few tears were shed, and some envious glances were thrown from his siblings. Obviously, they felt the same was as I did of living on a ranch.

As I walked to the bus stop, I found myself thinking. 'What is life in the city going to be like?' 'Well, it can't be worse than that hellhole of a ranch.'

As the bus pulled up to the curb, I boarded it, realizing that it signified the start of my new life. I was soon to find out that it would be a truly unique experience.

My dorm room was pretty standard. Beige walls, hardwood flooring, a hodgepodge of furniture. Same-old same-old. However, it was not the room that was unique, it was who I shared the room with.

Jayden. Strangely enough, he doesn't like to share his last name with people.

He was the epitome of the word nerd, and I loved the man like a best friend just the same. But, strangely enough, he doesn't fit any of the physical stereotypes that are stuck onto nerds. He was actually quite fit. Carrying boxes full of heavy video games and consoles can do that to a man.

He had a HUGE passion for video games. You name it, he's got it. Although, his tastes seem to be for retro games such as Halo, Battlefield, and Call of Duty. But, that doesn't stop him from trying every damn type of game.

However, very recently, a new type of video game console was released. He knew about it before it was even put onto the news. How, you ask? Well, I've learned not to question his methods.

This new console could supposedly put you "into" the games themselves. He was all over it. Unfortunately for him, all the games currently released for said console have massively failed to bring out its full potential.

Luckily for him, that changed today. Sword Art Online. The hype for the game said to "change your views on the entire universe" was global. It spread, starting from Japan, all the way to backwards nations such as Afghanistan.

When the revered game was finally put out onto the shelves, the number of copies of the game was based on the population of your country. For example, Japan had ten thousand copies total, America had thirty thousand, and China had a hundred thousand.

The copies were sought after like mad. The record sale for one on an auction was about thirty thousand dollars. Luckily for me, my faithful nerd managed to get me one as well, albeit with lots of cash from my part-time job.

So, that leads me to the point where I put on the nerve gear, and speak the dreaded words that I wished many times I had not said. "Link Start!"

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN SWORD ART ONLINE OR ANY OF ITS VARIANTS!**


	2. Chapter 2 - Madness

Thanks for all the reviews! Here's chapter 2!

"Link Start!" As I said the command, my consciousness was pulled from my body. The first thing I saw was a tube with colors radiating from all sides of it. Various prompts testing the senses came up, all saying "OK".

A menu popped up, titled "Character Creation". Viewing my options, I opted to make it as similar to me as possible. Standing at a height of 5'8, was myself. Almost. With long brown hair going down to my eyelids, a lean, muscular body structure, and scars on my hands from firing my bow without gloves.

The only difference was the fact that I could not make my eyes different colors, so I decided to make them both light blue. When I finally finished creating myself virtually, I pressed the "Continue to Naming" option.

I opted to name myself "Marksman", of course. After finishing, the new character was surrounded by an iridescent light. My vision faded to black.

When I regained sight, I was in the middle of a town square. The first thing I noticed was the sheer amount of people warping in, with the same light around them.

I looked down at myself, and noticed the unfamiliar clothes. A brown leather jacket, soft enough to be comfortable, but strong enough to provide some armor, and the same color leather trousers, adorned my body.

Feeling exposed, I fled to the fields visible down the street. Knowing that was the spawn point for monsters, for I had studied beforehand, as well as Jayden's constant blabbing, I headed for it.

As I neared, I noticed variously sized boars spawning. Reaching for my weapon, I readied myself for combat. I pulled up my menu, to check my first sword skill. It was called Slant. After reading the instructions as to how I should use it, I returned to the game.

Holding my sword over my shoulder, I allowed the system assist to take over and use the sword skill. Glowing with a bright blue light, I swung my sword.

It swung in an arc through the air, marking it with its light. As it made contact with the boar, it left a tear in its hide, revealing the red grid of coding.

The sword skill took out about 70% of the boar's health. With renewed vigor, I assaulted the boar, and in about 2 hits finished it off. I was rewarded with a menu screen showing me the spoils of the battle: some money and a bit of experience.

I looked to my experience bar, noticing that it was not even a twentieth full. Sighing to myself, I sprinted over to the next boar.

Following a few hours of boar farming, I checked my level. 3. Not bad. I opened up the menu and navigated to the character page. I tapped the buttons to increase my skills, Adding 4 to my AGI and 2 to my DEX. After that, I decided to take a little break. I opened up my menu, and tapped the button for the friends list.

Forgetting that I had not added Jayden, as he had to be somewhere before the official launch of the server. He should be on now.

Sending a message to the username he said he would choose, which had lots of X's and underscores, complementing his hardcore gamer self.

I racked my brain, but to no avail. I decided to log out and ask him myself. Returning to the main menu, I scrolled down to the log out button. Tapping it gave me a confirmation message. When I moved my finger over to the confirm button, I noticed that there was no button. Not getting discouraged, I tapped the grey square. I was rewarded with nothing but a sound to confirm the lack of a "Yes" button.

It was at about this point that the light from the character creation surrounded me once again. This time, knowing what would happen, I calmly awaited my fate.

When the light unimpeded my vision, I was in the town square again. But, I was not alone. Every player was here with me. Feeling extremely uncomfortable, I tried to leave, but was stopped by an invisible wall that showed hexagons when touched.

Turning to the center, I noticed a huge menu screen appear in the middle of the square, high enough so that everyone could see it.

On it, a video showed of what seemed to be a hooded man, in the same town square as I was, only it was about a third of the size. When you looked into his hood, you saw only blackness. He started to speak in Japanese to the crowd of people below him.

Subtitles translating the unfamiliar language popped up at the bottom of the screen, assisting all watching it. He explained to his anxious crowd, and to the one before me, that this was not a regular game. It was a death game. People around me started to freak out. Right before the video ended, he told us of an item, one given to everyone. Then, to finalize it, the menu screen blinked out of existence. The massive group of people, being scared shitless, opened their inventories to see what kind of insult to injury Kayaba might add, only to find a regular mirror.

But, as people started to take their mirrors out, they were engulfed in the teleportation light. I took mine out, hoping it would teleport me out of here. I was engulfed in the same light as everyone else.

When the light faded away, I looked around me. People had gotten far less handsome, and females had seemingly disappeared into thin air. I looked into my mirror once more, to be met by a pair of multicolored eyes.

Kayaba had made our avatars our exact bodies in the real world, to emphasize that this was, in fact, a death game by making you use your own bodies.

Everyone in the square stayed deathly quiet. Then, someone screamed. It was like lighting the fuse on a bomb. People started screaming, huddling into fetal positions, and cursing Kayaba.

Though, I somehow stayed calm. Call it divine intervention, but I knew I had to use the resources while they lasted. I slipped silently through the crowd, while some people broke from their trances of terror to stare, mesmerized, at my eyes.

I hated it when people stared at my eyes, as if to emphasize my difference from everyone else. That inspired me into a hurry to leave this cluster of madness.

Breaking through at one of the avenues of the town, I ran straight for the fields.


	3. Chapter 3 - Unique

**Sorry for the delay everyone, I had to take a vacation with my family for the greater half of summer. :/ But, I am proud to finally release chapter 3 of my first fanfiction. So, without further delay, please enjoy! **

Two weeks. It took two weeks for a fifth of the SAO players to die. 6000 people. Some blamed the beta testers, who supposedly left the populace for dead, but I know better than to release my tensions on the beta testers. As such, beta testers became hated amongst the regular players. Jayden and I both met up after the announcement, and agreed that we would leave each other to our own devices, as to level up faster.

Throughout the past 2 weeks, I trained day and night, resting only to rid myself of the unnecessary and unpleasant feeling that the game applied with hunger and thirst. I managed to raise my level up to a ridiculous 13. From asking random players who actually have been attempting to clear it, I learned that the average level was around 8-10.

During the past couple of days of training, I had been in the dungeon, which had been recently discovered. Perhaps by dumb luck, or the will of some higher power, I stumbled across a hidden room, with a treasure chest sitting so tantalizingly in the center of it that I just couldn't resist to clamber over and open it.

The moment I lifted the lid, the items inside transferred to my inventory, however, the floor fell out from under my feet, resulting in me falling into a cavern system that was filled with above-average leveled monsters. I looked around, taking in the musky scent of the place, that had meager lighting from some glowing creatures that posed no threat. While barely seeing the outlines of the walls, I fought my way out with vigor, and when I finally reached the end, a rusty metal ladder leading up to a segment of fake rock near the town brought me to freedom.

After fighting my way through the lesser mobs back to the town, I reached a tavern. As I entered, the scent of the game's substitute for alcohol wafted into my nose. I took in my surroundings. Wooden walls with slight deterioration, mounted animal heads, and tables with barrels as chairs. I walked up to the owner of the place, and rented one of the rooms.

I entered the room. A single bed, desk, chair, and oil lamp. Standard lodgings in SAO. I took off my armor, and as I lay in bed, awaiting for sleep to take me into its comforting clutches, I couldn't help but feel as if I forgot something. But, at that moment, I could care less. As the world faded away, I thought of how long I would be stuck in this world. What was happening to my body in the real world? Most likely answer is that officials tracked the purchases to each person and took them to hospitals. And then, nothing.

I awoke to the sound of the in-game alarm, signifying that it was 7:00 A.M. in the game. As I got up, a sudden thought struck me. I never checked to see what loot I got from that chest. Excitement ridding me of my morning drowsiness, I quickly manipulated my fingers through the HUD to my inventory. I scrolled down, before noticing one item sticking out. I tapped on it, and read the name in my head. Bow. Now the excitement had turned into disbelief. I had read through the game's manual, and never had it once mentioned anything about a bow. I materialized the item and held it in my hands.

A recurve bow. It was made of wood, with a black leather grip. I let my fingers travel over it, taking in its features. Utilitarian, with gentle curves and a taut sinew string. My massive expertise in the bow field let me classify it immediately as top notch. I tapped on it, intent on checking its stats. A window opened.

**Bow**

**A simple bow.**

**Stats scale with user's AGI.**

**Used in conjunction with different types of Arrows, which can be acquired by asking for them specifically from a blacksmith. Arrows fired from this bow will follow the laws of gravity. More power means a further travel distance.**

**Modifiable to increase stats based on modification.**

Laughing giddily like a child going to an ice cream shop, I put the bow away, and prepared my armor. Normally, I wear a black hood, connected to a black leather trench coat that hides my face, so as not to show my eyes. As for leggings, I am adorned by grey trousers made of a material similar to denim.

As I open the door of my room, I pull up my hood. Stepping out into the hallway, I make my way swiftly to the market area of the town in which I currently reside. Due to the high level area this town is in, not many players walk the streets. Most of them are sulking about in the Town of Beginnings, not willing to risk their lives over this game. The atmosphere there was so depressing and hopeless that I left as quickly as possible.

The market area of the town I am staying at, Shaw, was tiny to match the amount of players there. With just a blacksmith, a general store, and a potion merchant, it was possibly the smallest market on the first floor. I walked up to the blacksmith's shop, and studied the merchant. He was a sturdy-looking man in his 40s. A long, black beard adorned his face, with a mustache that curled up at the ends..

"I am looking to buy some arrows." I ask with a monotone. "Arrows?! That's a mighty strange request of yer. But, I reckon' I could make ya some, if ya got the cash for it, of course," the merchant replies with a calculating expression. I checked how much money I had left. In SAO, the currency is known as Col. Checking my virtual wallet, I confirmed the amount to be just over 12,000 col."What kinds of arrows can you make?" I asked curiously. "Any kind, seeing as you or I got the ores to make 'em." he replied jovially.

Seeing as I didn't have any ores at all, as I sold all the ones I acquired to aspiring player blacksmiths, I inquired as to what kinds he has. "Well, I've got steel and iron, whichever ye reckon you'd want." he replied, while playing with the ends of his mustache. "I'll pay you 3 col for an iron arrow, and 5 for a steel one," I offered. "Alright there sonny boy, ye've got yerself a deal! Now, which kind would you like and how many?" the man asked. "1,000 steel arrows, please." I hand him ten 500 col gold coins, frowning at the metaphorical loss of weight in my wallet.

He walked over to his anvil, materialized an ingot of what I assumed to be steel, and hammered away at it for about 30 seconds, before handing me a quiver filled with arrows. "Thank ye for yer business, don't hesitate on comin' back one day!" he said as I walked away. Anxious to try out my new weapon, I ran over to the nearest mob spawn. I soon found myself in a forest, buzzing with sounds and life.

Sighting my first victim, a Kobold Boar Rider, I equipped my bow. As soon as I did so, a window popped up, saying "New Unique Skill Tree Acquired, Two Handed Bows". I tapped the window, and it led me to my Two-Handed skill tree. Almost immediately, I notice an entirely new branch to it, starting off at the skill Basic Two Handed. The first bow skill was called Overdraw.

I tapped it for the description. "Pulls the string back further than normal, resulting in more power. (+150% Damage for one shot) 5 second cooldown, 1 second self-stun." After getting a basic understanding of how to operate Sword Skills, or I should say Bow Skills, I equipped my Steel Arrows. Expecting a quiver to appear on my back, I reached behind me, but felt nothing there. Suddenly, a theory popped into my mind. Putting 3 fingers on the bowstring, I pulled it back.

An arrow materialized with the notch already on the string, and between my middle and ring fingers. I aimed at a nearby tree, and fired. With a sound of splitting air, the steel arrow cut through the air in a deadly arc, before going mid-shaft deep into the trunk of the tree with a vibrant sound.

I walked up to the arrow, and tapped it, which made it return to my inventory. By the feeling of pulling the string, it felt like a 50lb draw weight, but you never know with SAO's strength system. Moving even further away from the same tree trunk, I prepared to use Overdraw.

I figured that since the skill implies pulling back the bow string further than necessary, it actually requires you to do that to activate it. So, with that in mind, I pulled back the string until it reached the regular draw length, then slowly pulled it back further.

As I drew it further back, the arrow between my fingers started to glow dark red. Then, I finally let the bow have its release. With a sound akin to a bullet flying by, the arrow sped off into the tree trunk, and embedded itself fletching deep, with a deeply satisfying _THUNK_. When my stun time was over, I walked back to the tree trunk and tapped the arrow, then turned to the Kobold Boar Rider, which had been mulling around a clearing in the area, following its coding.

I hid behind a shrub, and pulled my string to Overdraw lengths, and waited until the arrow glowed the familiar dark red before releasing, sending the speeding comet of red light into the back of the Kobold's head. The sheer momentum of the arrow knocked it into a ragdoll state, up and off of the Boar it was riding. Moments later, it shattered into pixels. A window popped up saying that my Two Handed Skill was raised to 2. Excellent.

After enjoying my share of hunting poor, hapless Kobolds, I resigned to my fate of an uncomfortable Tavern bed. As I returned to the familiar room which I had rented once again, I thought of what other players would think of me when they saw my Bow. Most likely, I would be classified as a beta tester for even possessing such an item.

But, I did not let that worry me, as I was a lone wolf by nature. So once again, I ventured into the comfortable crevice of sleep's bosom, not to awaken until early morning until my power-leveling regime called.


	4. Chapter 4 - Boss Fight

**Before we begin, allow me to explain some things. In the American server, they did not have the luxury of an information booklet from the beta testers, so they had to rely on new information acquired from whatever sources they could find. This in turn led to many more deaths than in Japan. Also, using the Bow increases his two-handed skill, allowing him to also use two-handed sword skills on melee weapons as well. They also have a much bigger Aincrad, as to accommodate for the higher amount of players.**

**Chapter 4**

Another 3 weeks passed by. Luckily for us, the casualty rate has slowed massively, resulting only in a few hundred deaths these past weeks. So far, around 6500 people have died, leaving 23500 to clear the game. Out of these 23500, only 1000 of them are clearers, or players in the top-tier level trying to clear the game. So, it is at this point, that a raid party of the strongest players that we can muster is at the gate to the first boss. I also knew for a fact that Jayden was in this party, as I had seen him multiple times. A leader, by the name of Knight, emerged from the crowd to lead us into this battle.

When the fact that I have a unique item spread throughout the players, I was immediately marked as a beta tester, even though I am not. However, they could not get a description of how I look, as I always wear a hood to cover my face. The only reason they let me into this raid group was because I was the highest-level player who offered to join it, at level 20. Nonetheless, most of the party made it their priority to watch me and make sure I try nothing fishy. The party of 48 players was split into 7 groups, each with respectively 8 players, save the last one that had 7.

I was the sole person not in a group, as the others did not trust me to watch their backs. So, I was left to fend for myself in the back lines, firing arrows to cover my "allies".

As the massive gates pushed open, we looked at our surroundings. A couple of dim torches for light, an extremely high ceiling with drops of water falling around, echoing _"Drip Drip" _sounds. The walls were made of stone, cracked and falling apart in many places. 2 pillars stood at different sides of the room, as to keep the deteriorated ceiling from falling on their heads.

We walked into the room, and got our first glimpse of the first boss who seemingly fell from the roof. Standing tall and proud at over 15 feet tall, weighing in at around 50 tons, there stood in a bipedal fashion a walking slab of meat, with horns as long and sharp as broadswords. Huge muscles adorned his(yes his, they can see it all) legs, and what seemed to be his arms, giving him obscene strength.

His blood-red skin reflected the meager light from the torches, giving him an ethereal glow. He was carrying a large, iron spear, with hooves as sharp as razors, and a large, pink snout. Its name was The Boar God, Gullin. Four huge, red health bars appeared above it, along with its level, 21.

Everyone stood frozen in fear, as the doors behind them shut with a loud bang. A boss room trap at floor 1, Kayaba was really showing no mercy to us Americans. Knight was the second to snap out of it, after me. "Forward men, DPS units behind the vanguard, and support units behind the DPS!" Everyone moved into his or her positions, with me in the far back.

The vanguard of 10 people, each carrying massive tower shields, conjoined their shields with a loud "_CLANK"_ to form a seemingly impenetrable wall. I waited for the humanoid boar to do something, as to spur on the battle.

The walking slab of meat stomped his feet on the ground, and let forth a blood-curdling roar. A group of around 30 boars of various shapes and sizes materialized by him, all named Blood-thirsty Boar, checking in at levels of 15-20. As both sides met in battle, it was clear that the coordination of the players was pathetic.

The boars overtook the vanguard with ease, breaking through their ranks, but luckily they got mowed down before they could do serious damage to the DPS.

All this while, Knight stood in the back lines, sending out orders to the raid party. "Fill that gap!" "Stop that boar!" "Damnit vanguard, stop letting them through!" I repeatedly fired my arrows at boars that got through, decimating them with support fire. I took care not to hit any of my allies with stray arrows. As a group of 5 boars simultaneously attacked one point of the wall, the 2 players holding that segment fell, and were trampled under the hooves of the rampaging boars and exploded into fragments.

Reacting quickly, I let loose a Bow Skill that I recently learned, Arrow Rain. I aimed my bow up, and let the system assist do the rest. One arrow fired up multiplied into many, raining death on the quintuple of boars. Although it depletes my quiver a lot, it is very effective in clearing large groups of enemies. However, the rest of the boars took use of the break in our defenses to move through. Throughout this entire time, the boss had been patiently watching the battle, awaiting the outcome.

The sounds of battle flowed clearly to my ears. Clanging of horns on shields, swords piercing through flesh, and both players and boars in their death throes. Knight, trying to bring his voice over the sounds of battle, started yelling to the warriors. As the superior number of players finally bested the boars, the boss decided to take things into his own hands. With a resounding roar of determination, he rampaged over the vanguard, trampling the players into a (not so bloody) pulp.

"Fall back!" Knight yelled desperately. As the players retreated from the freight truck of a boar, I trained my metaphorical sights over to him, and started letting loose arrow after arrow. With each shot, combined with the weapons of the other players, the massive health bars of the floor boss dropped drastically. He turned to me, recognizing me as the highest source of damage, and threw his spear at me, materializing another. I quickly barrel rolled to the side, just barely avoiding the impact of the enormous weapon. When I turned back to the boss, he was just a few feet away from me, and closing in quickly full of intent to trample me into the dust.

"Shit," I cursed. Activating another Bow Skill, Tactical Retreat, I jumped back 30 feet to get a better position for firing. I let loose another volley of arrows, before checking his health bar. Out of the 4 health bars he started with, just one and a half remain. As we whittled his second to last health bar down to nothingness, he dropped his spear, and smashed his hands into the ground with all his force. This triggered an earthquake, which made the roof cave in, causing it to fall down in deadly pieces.

"Avoid the falling rocks!" Knight said as a player was crushed and instantaneously killed next to him. With agility to be reckoned with, I ran around, dodging falling stones and putting arrow after arrow into Gullin. As his last health bar reached a quarter, I prepared my execution Bow Skill, Snipe by pulling the string back even further than Overdraw, so much so to the point that the durability of the bow depleted a little for each second I held it like that. I focused on his head, and the crosshair that comes with the skill appeared on my screen. I aimed at his head, and let loose the arrow.

With a streak of purple light, the arrow flew true into the boss, hitting him right between the eyes. Due to the +500% critical damage that Snipe has, it did a tremendous amount of damage, completely depleting his last health bar. With one last roar of defeat, he fell to the ground, causing a tiny earthquake.

A window popped up, indicating that I got the last hit on the boss, and gained the reward.

**Congratulations!**

**You got the last hit!**

**Reward: Boar God's Ivory Horns**

**Boar God's Spear**

**Exp: 5000**

**Col: 10000**

As I closed the window, I noticed everyone looking at me with an awestruck look on their faces. Quickly counting the amount of players remaining, I tallied up 33. "15 dead," I calmly stated with a grim look. I turned, and slowly walked to the portal leading to the second floor. "H-hey, wait up!" Knight called. I turned with a questioning look on my face. "How did you do so much… damage?!" he asked. I simply shrugged and continued on, leaving the raid party dumbfounded.

I stepped on the portal, and instantly found myself in a mountainous, rocky area that stretched as far as the eye can see. Pulling out my bow, I proceeded to go and explore this new area.


	5. Chapter 5 - Assassin

**Chapter 5**

**Let me clarify something else before the chapter starts. The NPCs in this story all have AI, meaning they act like real people, and respond to questions like real people as well. They also don't realize that this is a virtual world, and that there is a real world.**

Stepping off the teleportation platform, I walked to the path of dirt and trodden grass. I looked ahead, examining the environment, before hearing a sound behind me. I turned, and noticed the bright light signifying the imminent teleportation of a player, so I quickly made myself scarce by running into the shrubbery.

_**2 Hours Later**_

After travelling the dirt road, and killing many new monsters along the way, I reached the first town. With buildings inside chiseled-out boulders, and paths of cobblestone, the town gave off a vaguely medieval atmosphere. Following the path, I arrived to the town square. Stalls stood on each side of the road, displaying all their wares. I quickly located the blacksmith's stall and walked over.

The man behind the stall stood tall and proud at 6'1, with tanned skin marked almost everywhere with scars. He was muscular, with arms to rival many bodybuilders, as if to prove his lifetime experience at the forge.

"Do you appraise ores?" I asked of him.

He turned, and gave me as calculating of a look as NPCs can give. "Sure kiddo, I can appraise your ores." He replied.

"How about materials that can act as ores?" I queried.

Scratching his head, he replied, "Sure, but I doubt you'd find a material as hard as an ore."

Materializing the Boar God's Horns, I shrugged. "We'll see."

Taking the item, he asked, "Do you mind if I test its strength? It might be broken, but I can test how strong it is."

In response, I shook my head.

Taking out a hammer, he proceeded to hit it multiple times. After 4 hits, he stopped, put the hammer away, and handed me the horns. "They are of tier 4 strength, or about 2 tiers higher than steel."

I scratched my chin. Materializing my bow on the small table in front of the stall, I asked, "Can you reinforce the limbs of my bow with them?"

"Yeah, I guess. Just give me a minute." He replied.

Picking up the bow, he walked to the other end of the stall and put it on an anvil. He placed the horns on either side of the bow, and pounded away with his hammer for a few seconds.

"It's done." He stated.

He handed the bow to me, and I tapped it. A window opened, saying, "Bow (+2)". Excellent. I materialized a bag of col, and handed it to him.

"Thanks for your business!" he yelled.

After the blacksmith, I walked over to the inn. It was a massive boulder. Rough windows were carved out on the second floor, and lights shone from the opening supposed to be a door. Up-beat music flowed out through facets in the stone, as well as the many openings. Walking in, I rented a room, and followed the receptionist to the room.

Taking off my armor and dematerializing it, I lied down and went to bed.

_**The Next Morning**_

After waking up, and putting on my armor, I headed out to the fields where the mobs spawned nearest to the town. Before crossing over a hill, I heard sounds of a battle on the other side of it. I thought I was the only one brave enough or high enough level to fight mobs on this floor. I sprinted to the top, and viewed the land below. Instantly, I spot the battle. A group of about 6 Greater Dire Wolfs surrounded a single, cloaked and hooded figure.

Reacting instantly, I slid down the hill on my feet. As I reached the bottom, I used my momentum to jump over the wolves, and landed next to the cloaked figure. I materialized my bow instantly.

"Who are you?" the person asked, and I recognized her voice as a female.

"Someone here to help." I replied before using a Bow Skill, Arrow Spray, to fire 10 arrows in a wide area, but since this was point blank range, the wolf was absolutely obliterated.

My newfound ally widened her eyes a little under her hood, not that I noticed. She then proceeded to pull out throwing knives between her fingers, and threw them out with frightening speed, injuring 3 of the 5 remaining wolves, and stunning one. She was good. Really good.

I put away my bow, pulling out the Boar God's Spear, and rushing the nearest wolf, impaling it before it could react. As it exploded into pixels, I turned to witness my ally gutting a wolf by sliding under it and pulling her knives across its underbelly.

The last 3 wolves, as if sensing their futility in this battle, high-tailed it out of there. I turned and faced the hooded woman. She was sitting on the ground, panting. Her hood had been destroyed, as it had run out of durability. Her head was down.

"Hey," I said.

She brought her head up, and then I saw it. Heterochromatic eyes. Just like mine. Except, one of her eyes was pure gold, and the other was violet with green flecks in it. Not just that, she was beautiful. Frighteningly so. And also my age. Long brown hair fell down to her waist in smooth waves. Soft features complimented her unique eyes, giving her an angelic look. Ironic.

"Your eyes…" I said like an idiot. Immediately, her eyes widened and she turned away. "Aren't you going to call me a demon?" she asked.

"Now, why would I do that?" I said.

"Everyone says I'm a demon because of my eyes." She turned to me.

"Well, if you're a demon, then I'm a demon too," I said as I pulled off my hood, and looked her in the eyes.

Her eyes, surprisingly, widened even further.

_**Assassin's POV**_

'He's handsome.' Was my first thought. I blushed. 'Just like an… Archer… in shining… light armor? I guess I'm just a natural romantic…' Then, I saw his eyes.

"Y-you… you're just like m-me…" I stuttered.

He smirked. "Yeah, I guess so."

Moving past her initial surprise, I blushed. "I'm Assassin."

"I'm Marksman." He replied.

I smiled. "We're both named after an RPG class."

His smirk widened. "Heh, I guess we are. That's 2 things we have in common already."

I felt my face heat up further.

"I didn't think someone would beat me to the chase in fighting mobs on this floor." He stated.

"I didn't think I would be here either. As soon as the message saying that the second floor had opened, I stopped grinding mobs and went to the town of beginnings to teleport over here," I replied.

"If I may ask of you, what level are you?" he asked.

Opening my player menu, I quickly checked.

"21," I stated with a straight face.

His eyes widened. "How… I'm barely level 22, and I got the last hit on the first floor boss… If you're level 21, then you would have had to be constantly farming at least 10 hours a day since day 1…"

"I was." I said, once again, with a straight face.

"Are you a beta tester?" he asked.

Even though I was such a high level, I was not a beta tester. Grinding mobs, day after day, got me to where I am. Some people have called me a beta tester when I said my level, though…

"I have been called one, but I am not." I said.

"Neither am I, but I bet you can already tell I've been called one too, considering how I have a bow…" he said while absently gripping his bow tighter.

"Want to go to the restaurant? I'll treat you to a breakfast." He said as if it were the simplest thing in the world.

Blushing, I replied, "Sure…"

As we walked back to the town, I thought about what the future held in store for me.


End file.
